§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Congested Districts Board have received a memorial from 100 sub-tenants on the Dillon Estate, in the town of Ballaghaderreen, praying to be made the owners of their holdings; have the Board entered into any agreements with the middlemen for purchase in these cases; and whether, in view of Mr. Justice Meredith's recent decision, the Board will take steps to extinguish the interests of the middlemen and sell direct to the persons in occupation of the holdings.
§ MR. WYNDHAMMany of the subtenants are sub-tenants to the wife of Dr. Dillon, who has expressed her willingness to sell to the Congested Districts Board, but her solicitor has not yet furnished to the Board the rental of the property. The other sub-tenants who petitioned hold houses in the town of Ballaghaderreen from residents and others. The ground rents of these houses belong to the Congested Districts Board. In all these cases the Board has offered to sell the ground rents at a most reasonable figure, but many of the houses are very old and dilapidated, and would not afford an adequate security for the purchase money necessary to be advanced.